"The Shield of Faith"

Ephesians 6:16, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."

(You canput out the fiery darts of the enemy before they even reach you by using "the shield of faith".)

If you are one of many who does not have peace and you want to know how to keep the devil from destroying your mind, your health, and your family, then the Lord wants to reassure you right now that you can resist the devil.

God wants you to have peace.

2nd Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

He wants you to resist the devil.

James 4:7 says it like this, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

As the scripture states above, we must first submit ourselves to God. To submit yourself to God you need to pray, read His Word and be a doer of what you read. Then and only then will you be able to completely resist the devil.

Resist means to repel. When I feel the devil’s evil presence I know he is just trying to bug me. But I also know that his fiery darts cannot make it through "the shield of faith". Just because the devil sends me a problem doesn’t mean he is going to hit his target.

When the devil tries to bug you, repel him!

Faith works as a shield so to remain a victorious person you will need to hold up "the shield of faith" at all times as to not allow the devil to pierce your thoughts. That is exactly what he tries to do; pierce our thoughts with his fiery darts. But you and I can overcome the thoughts of despair he sends us by repelling them.

An illustration:

When my husband and I go riding on our ATV in the mountains of Virginia he will cover himself with insect repellent. I rarely use it because I don't like the smell. However, here is the point I would like to make; I have noticed that even though my husband uses insect repellent to shield himself from the bugs they may not bite him but they still swarm around him, getting in his face.

That’s how the devil is. Although you’re holding up the shield of faith he will still try his best to hit you with his fiery darts. Everywhere you turn he will be right there, in your face, trying to make you sick, weak, depressed or something. So, just as my husband keeps spraying insect repellent to fight bugs when he is in the woods, Christians must keep holding up "the shield of faith" to fight the devil.

I have heard this said, "The devil’s job is to aggravate Christians." Like we are supposed to just accept his evil ways. Well excuse me? But unless you hire him he doesn’t have a job. God the Father fired him and Jesus destroyed his work. (Read1st John 3:8) And although he may hang around looking for employment we don’t have to hire an out of work angel. Besides, who would want to hire him?

How to Use "The Shield of Faith"

Let’s say the devil has come to you with a thought of discouragement, telling you that you are going to die. What do you do? Well, you go to the Word of God and get scriptures that support life.

Then you quote them to the devil word for word. By doing this you are holding up the shield of faith that repels him. You are courageously enforcing his defeat and becoming a doer of the Word at the same time.

You wouldn’t allow a thief to come in your home and steal your belongings while you were there. You’d get your gun, or some kind of weapon, and run the thief out of your house. As a Child of God you have weapons and those weapons are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. So although the devil may be messing with your mind you are able to pull that stronghold down by putting on the armor of God and using the spiritual weapons God has given you. Above all taking "the shield of faith". (Read Ephesians Chapter 6)

Don't agree with the devil...

Recently I was walking through my home and this thought came rushing through my mind, "you’re depressed". Instantly I realized it was an evil spirit so I dismissed it as being what it was and went on my way. I knew it was the devil trying to penetrate my thoughts and convince me I was depressed when I wasn’t. He wanted me to come into agreement with him so he could steal my peace but instead I came in agreement with the Word of God.

Staying alert…

We need to stay alert to what is going on in our thought life. We need to guard our thoughts and NOT entertain anything that is contrary to the Word of God instead cast them down!

2nd Corinthians 10:5, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

When you have a thought that upsets you, or frightens you, cast it down. If you feel sick or depressed cast those feelings down. Often you will find that before you feel sick you will have a thought that you are sick. Cast those thoughts down!

Continue to Fight and Expose the Devil

To keep the peace of God there will come a time in your life when you will have to confront the devil. When you do just expose him for the loser he is. Find a scripture verse for the need or problem you have and slap it right in front of his face and say, "Read this devil, Jesus has taken care of this problem."

Jesus quoted scripture. He continued to tell the devil, "It is written". Continue to quote scriptures for your deliverance. Continue to ask, continue to knock, continue to seek until you find. C O N T I N U E in the faith!

God is a good God and He doesn’t want you defeated. He wants you to hold up the shield of faith and CONTINUE to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.